Did Obama Change Name of Fort Hood's Heavy Brigade Combat Team to Advise and Assist Brigade in order to say all "Combat" Troops are out of Iraq?

Corrected Article, Sep 10, 2010 -- Due to some questions about the email and picture, we have pulled them from the site because we cannot get further verification on the picture that allegedly comes  from Iraq.

UPDATE, Sep 3, 2010

Army Times confirms that combat troops in Iraq have just been renamed, not removed. As the final convoy of the Army's 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, based at Fort Lewis, Wash., entered Kuwait early Thursday, a different Stryker brigade remained in Iraq. Soldiers from the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team of the 25th Infantry Division are deployed in Iraq as members of an Advise and Assist Brigade, the Army's designation for brigades selected to conduct security force assistance.

So while the "last full U.S. combat brigade" have left Iraq, just under 50,000 soldiers from specially trained heavy, infantry and Stryker brigades will stay, as well as two combat aviation brigades. Compared with the 49,000 soldiers in Iraq, there are close to 67,000 in Afghanistan and another 9,700 in Kuwait, according to the latest Army chart on global commitments dated Aug. 17. Under an agreement with the Iraqi government, all U.S. troops must be out of Iraq by Dec. 31, 2011.

There are seven Advise and Assist Brigades in Iraq, as well as two additional National Guard infantry brigades "for security," said Army spokesman Lt. Col. Craig Ratcliff. Last year, the Army decided that rather than devote permanent force structure to the growing security force assistance mission, it would modify and augment existing brigades. The Army has three different standard brigade combat teams: infantry, Stryker and heavy.

To build an Advise and Assist Brigade, the Army selects one of these three and puts it through special training before deploying. The Army selected brigade combat teams as the unit upon which to build advisory brigades partly because they would be able to retain their inherent capability to conduct offensive and defensive operations, according to the Army's security force assistance field manual, which came out in May 2009. This way, the brigade can shift the bulk of its operational focus from security force assistance to combat operations if necessary.

To prepare for their mission in Iraq, heavy, infantry and Stryker brigades receive specialized training that can include city management courses, civil affairs training and border patrol classes. As far as equipment goes, the brigades either brought their gear with them or used equipment left behind that is typical to their type of brigade, said Ratcliff. The first Advise and Assist Brigade - the 4th Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Armored Division from Fort Bliss, Texas - deployed last spring to Iraq, serving as a "proof of principle" for the advisory brigade concept. Of the seven Advise and Assist Brigades still in Iraq, four are from the 3rd Infantry Division, based at Fort Stewart, Ga.

The 1st Heavy Brigade of the 1st Armored Division, based at Fort Bliss, and the 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 4th Infantry Division, based at Fort Carson, Colo., are also serving as Advise and Assist Brigades. The 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team of the 25th Infantry Division is based at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. Two combat aviation brigades also remain in Iraq, according to Dan O'Boyle, Redstone Arsenal spokesman. Three more are deployed in Afghanistan, where there are currently no Advise and Assist Brigades... Army Times
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This morning we discovered those troops leaving Fort Hood are 'combat' troops with a new name on their way to Iraq.  In fact, the first of them had a layover in Bangor Maine Tuesday on as reported in the Bangor Daily News:

BANGOR, Maine — As the nation watches troops being withdrawn from the Middle East, few perhaps are aware that another wave of soldiers is being deployed.

On Tuesday, a group of about 150 soldiers from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, based in Fort Hood, Texas, had a two-hour layover at Bangor International Airport on their way to southern Iraq.

“It’s funny because the big thing on the news as we were getting ready to leave was all the big hoopla about all the combat forces coming out, so all the soldiers and their families are asking, ‘Why are we going?’” Lt. Col. Bryan Mullins said.

“Well, we said it was the difference between the guys whose job it is to fight versus guys whose primary job it is to help people, or secure people, who are doing something else,” he said.

“So we are combat arms soldiers — I’m a tanker, we’ve got other tankers and artillery. But our job in Iraq is primarily going to be to training Iraqi security forces, cops, the [Iraqi] army, the border forces — they’ve got huge border forces,” he said.

“We haven’t been able to pay a whole lot of attention to those over the first six years because we were too busy doing other stuff,” he said. “So now, on the back end of the mission, we’re going to spend a whole lot more time and energy on that.”

The unit also will provide security for U.S. State Department personnel while in the Middle East, he said...

According to Mullins, an estimated 5,000 members of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment have been deployed and will be securing the southern half of Iraq.

This makes the speech by Obama on Tuesday night a fraud on the American people for political purposes saying that  'combat troops' are out of Iraq when in fact they have only changed the name of the units.  Did he want so much to say he kept his promise, that he hid the truth in his speech.  How many of the national media will report that we are still sending 'combat' troops to Iraq this week, and we did not withdraw all 'combat' troops as reported by NBC?

Aug 19, 2010 ... The last American combat troops left Iraq today, ... NBC News said that the last soldiers to reach Kuwait were proud of the collective ... have pulled out off Iraq – two weeks ahead of Barack Obama's 31 August deadline

Why are the media covering for Obama on this when that same media ripped Pres Bush for the sign "Mission Accomplished" which was the banner for the ship returning from THEIR Mission? Have they truly sold every ounce of integrity in their body to Obama?  American citizens think all the 'combat' troops are out of Iraq but you could say that is in Name Only because they are still there. In fact, we are happy to know that the 50,000 troops left in Iraq are 'combat' troops for the most part no matter what Obama says. I would hate to think we had pulled out everyone capable of defending the Americans we still have in Iraq.

Is this is more bait and switch by Obama and his Administration with their willing accomplices in the national media? Note that local media is not buying into the 'no combat troops' as the Bangor Maine Daily News reported there are more 'combat' troops on the way to Iraq.

Only a small minded person who puts politics over all else would pull a stunt like Obama has done so he can meet a political deadline he artificially set when he took office to have 'combat' troops out of Iraq.

What national media outlet will report that we not only have combat troops still in Iraq under a new name but also are sending more?  Obama and the media may be able to fool the vast majority of American people but they cannot fool the members of the military who are deployed in Iraq who like this soldier in the email sent back the truth.

Personally we are happy there are still combat troops in Iraq to protect the Americans we have in Iraq.  Bottom line is that it appears to be symbolism over substance but not shocked with this Administration.